FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ©
Referring to the Great Expectations Contest

 

 

Q.   What makes Great Expectations special?

A.   We believe in email and stay in touch with our contestants.
Each entrant receives:
 - an email confirmation when their entry arrives,
 - notification when packets are returned and mailed to judges,
 - notification when checks are scheduled for deposit,
 - notification of their category’s finalists, and
 - notification of all winners.
All finalists have the opportunity to update their query letter, addressing their finalist status.

 

We believe that each contest category deserves its own specific score sheet and have developed questions pertaining to individual romance sub-genres. Example score sheets are available year round.


We have a judges’ loop for Q&A. When a question is asked about a particular genre, we ask published authors within that genre for their opinion and advice.

 

Q.   I do not live in the United States. Should I send return postage?

A.   International contestants must enter electronically. Imagine, you’ll receive your packets back within days instead of weeks and it won’t cost you all the extra postage. You can even volunteer to judge.

 

Q.   Is electronic entry only for international participants?

A.   Electronic entry is open to ALL contestants.
 

Q.   Why does it matter if I include my personal information on the query letter?

A.   Since we have judges from around the world, we want everyone to have the same playing field. Therefore, we’d like the query letter personal info to be as generic as possible. See our contest example on our website. If a query letter for the contest includes personal information, Great Expectations will make every effort to contact the entrant and ask that they email a corrected copy OR we reserve the right to mark through the information (using a very black marker) before sending it to judges.


For final round judging, all finalists will be given the opportunity to email an updated query letter. Updated letters may include contest and chapter information, but should still withhold names and contact particulars.

 

Q.   If Great Expectations is a "first chapter" contest, can I send my prologue and / or part of my second chapter?

A.   Yes. The Great Expectations contest will accept up to the first 25 pages of your manuscript, including the prologue or part of your second chapter. Make certain the pages are numbered consecutively. AND please make certain your entry ends with a completed sentence on a good “hook.”

 

Q.   I have a 25,000-word manuscript. May I enter it in the Great Expectations contest?

A.   The 2005 Great Expectations contest does not include a category for projected word counts of less than 40,000.

 

Q.  I’m writing a romantic suspense, but the final round editor/agent is not from the publisher I'm targeting. Which category should I enter?

A.   The Great Expectations contest does not deduct points for entering a "wrong category."  Our Romantic Suspense final round judge may be a single title publisher or from Harlequin/Silhouette. First, the main objective of entering a contest is to get your work in front of an appropriate editor or agent. Choose the category that is most appropriate for your work. Secondly, take a look at the score sheets for Long Contemporary, Single Title and Romantic Suspense. Which will benefit your writing the most?

 

Q.   I’m targeting Silhouette Intimate Moments but the story is not a mystery/suspense and won’t benefit from the RS score sheet. Which category should I enter?

A.   Feel free to enter our Long Contemporary category. Check out our examples of subgenres.

 

Q.  I'm supposed to bind my entry ONLY with a small binder clip. What is that, and where can I find one?

A.   You can find binder clips at most office supply stores, probably next to the paper clips. The very small binder clips fit better into a Priority Mail envelope. To see a picture of a binder clip, check the Office Depot website at www.officedepot.com and search for "binder clip."

 

Q.  Contest rules suggest using a Priority Flat Rate envelope. Is this important?

A.   We are all for minimizing the cost of contests. Priority Flat Rate envelopes are free at the post office, easily hold four 25-page entries and cost a flat rate of $4.05 (as of January 2007) for 2 to 3 day delivery. It is by far the easiest and cheapest way to return entries.

 

IF you choose NOT to use a Priority Flat Rate envelope, please verify you have included enough return postage on your SASE.


Q. What is RWA®? And do I really have to be a member?

A.    Yes, you need to be a member of Romance Writer’s of America®. North Texas Romance Writers of America is a chapter of RWA®. For more information on RWA®, visit their national website.


If you have additional questions, please email our 2007 contest coordinator, Angi Platt.

 

 

 

Copyright 2007 NTRWA -- all rights reserved, please obtain written permission before use.